Volleyball: CCC to Meet Cowley in NJCAA Tourney

The pairings for the upcoming National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II Volleyball tournament have been announced. The national tournament will be held Nov. 16-18 at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia.

The Central Community College volleyball team is the #8 seed and will take on #9 seed Cowley County (KS) Community College (37-6) in an opening-round match at 12 noon CDT on Thursday, Nov. 16.

"It's gratifying to see our team reach this goal of returning to the national tournament, especially with the adversity we've faced with injuries," said CCC head coach Mary Young. "Every member of our team has contributed to our success and I'm really proud of our determination and resolve.  As with every trip to the national tournament, we intend to be playing our best volleyball and will take each set and match at a time."

The Raiders head into the national tournament with a mark of 33-10 following last weekend's win over Bismarck State College (ND) in the District G championship match. CCC is led in kills by Amber Anderson (444) with a 3.00 kills per set average. Paxton Throne is the team leader in assists (1,369) with an average of 10.07 assists per set. Jacie Jaetsch leads the Raiders in digs (489) with a 3.08 digs per set average.

The Tigers are led in kills by Shawna Witt (215) with a 3.15 kills per set average. Emily Reed is the team leader in assists (489) with an average of 6.35 assists per set. McKenna Poynter leads the Tigers in digs (404) with a 5.05 digs per set average.

If Cowley County sounds familiar, it should. The Raiders and the Tigers have met twice this season. In the first meeting in August, CCC defeated Cowley County, 3-1, in a tournament at Wichita, Kan. The second meeting in September saw the Tigers defeat the Raiders, 3-2, at the JCCC Challenge in Overland Park, Kan. CCC and Cowley County have met five times over the last two seasons with the Tigers having the upper hand, 3-2.

"We look forward to our match up with Cowley," said Young. "We've battled with them a lot over the years and know it will be a hard-fought match."

Cowley County is a two-time national champion in volleyball, having won the title in 2011 and 2013.

The overall #1 seed for the tournament is Owens Community College (OH), which is undefeated at 36-0. Parkland (IL) is the second, while Coffeyville (KS) is the #3 seed. CCC lost to Parkland and defeated Coffeyville during the regular season.

Live coverage of the national tournament will be available at www.njcaatv.com.